Strong-improvement districts are defined as ones that had an accountability rating of acceptable in 1996-97 and an accountability rating of exemplary in 1998-99. These districts are relatively small, serving from 734 to 2,000 students.

The information in Table 5 shows that the strong-improvement districts have total expenditures that exceed the state average. Instructional expenditures for strong-improvement districts are about 26 percent higher than the state average. These results for strong-improvement districts reinforce the observations made in previous analysesæ that resource allocation is positively related to student academic performance. One explanation for the apparent link between high performance and higher resources for instruction could be that budget decisions in these districts were made specifically with the goal of improving student learning. Other reasons for the higher expenditures could be related to district size (expenditures in smaller districts are generally higher on a per-pupil basis), to district tax rates (higher tax rates generally result in higher total revenue), or to qualification for federal program spending.

Table 5: Average Per-Pupil Expenditures for Strong-Improvement Districts, by Function (1996-97 to 1998-99)